A Unique Genius In Late Qing Dynasty-Gu Hongming
3 min readThere is a saying in western world:“when you come to China，Forbidden City may not be on your agenda，yet visiting Gu Hongming must be a necessity.”Gu Hongming，（July 18，1857-April30，1928）was a Malaysian Chinese man of letters.He had many pennames，among which Tomson was most well-known.He was an expert both on Chinese culture and Western culture.Being the first person who could master Western science，language and Chinese culture，he was known as“unique genius in late Qing Dynasty”.
Life across four continents
Gu called his story“life across four continents”，because he was born in southeast Asia and studied in western world，then he got married in Japan and finally devoted to China.
He was born in Penang，Malaysia，the second son of a Chinese rubber plantation superintendent，whose ancestral hometown was in Fujian province，and his Portuguese wife.The British plantation owner was fond of Gu and took him at age ten to Scotland for his education.
He was then known as Hongming.He was fluent in English，Chinese German，and French，and understood Italian，Ancient Greek，Latin，Japanese and Malay.In 1873 he began studying Literature at the University of Edinburgh，graduating in the spring of 1877 with an M.
A.He then earned a diploma in Civil Engineering at the University of Leipzig，and studied law in Paris.
He went back to China in 1885 and served as an advisor，director of the Huangpu River Authority in Shanghai.He served in the Imperial Foreign Ministry from 1908 to 1910，then as the presidentof the Nanyang Public School，the forerunner of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.He resigned the latter post in 1911 as a sign of his loyalty to the fallen imperial government.In 1915 became a professor at Peking University.From 1924 he lived in Japan for three years as a guest lecturer in Oriental cultures.Then he returned in 1927 and lived in Beijing until his death.
The Spirit of the Chinese People
China’s image was greatly defamed since late Qing Dynasty.
Gu wrote this book in English in 1915.In it he described Chinese and its civilization as deep，broad，simple and delicate.Americans，Englishmen，Germen or French all have some weakness in these characters，thus they can’t understand Chinese civilization well.Gu wrote the real Chinese with beautiful and profound language.Once this book was published，Western world was shocked and translated it into many languages.
“An ardent patriot”
Gu loved his country deeply and made every effort to pay tribute to China.Once when he was offering sacrifice to his ancestor，an Englishman teased him and said:“when shall your ancestor eat these offerings？”Gu answered loudly:”it should be earlier than your ancestors smell flowers you put in front of their tombs！”
When Somerset Maugham went to Shanghai，he sent for Gu Hongming but Gu refused to meet up with Maugham until Somersetoffered himself at his door.When Gu told him in his face these words:”You English！You think we Chinese are either coolies or compradors，ready to turn up at your beck and call.”You can imagine how embarrassed Maugham was！
